Opportunity cost based analysis of corporate eco-efficiency: A methodology and its application to the CO2-efficiency of German companies

T. Hahn; Frank Figge; Andrea Liesen; Ralf Barkemeyer

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.05.004

Opportunity cost based analysis of corporate eco-efficiency: A methodology and its application to the CO2-efficiency of German companies

T. Hahn^*
, Frank Figge
, Andrea Liesen
, Ralf Barkemeyer

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Indexed journal article › Article › peer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the return-to-cost-ratio (RCR) as an alternative approach to the analysis of operational eco-efficiency of companies based on the notion of opportunity costs. RCR helps to overcome two fundamental deficits of existing approaches to eco-efficiency. (1) It translates eco-efficiency into managerial terms by applying the well-established notion of opportunity costs to eco-efficiency analysis. (2) RCR allows to identify and quantify the drivers behind changes in corporate eco-efficiency. RCR is applied to the analysis of the CO ₂-efficiency of German companies in order to illustrate its usefulness for a detailed analysis of changes in corporate eco-efficiency as well as for the development of effective environmental strategies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1997-2007
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Environmental Management
Volume	91
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.05.004
Publication status	Published - Oct 2010
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

CO2-efficiency
Corporate environmental strategy
Eco-efficiency
Environmental performance assessment
Opportunity cost

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10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.05.004

Cite this

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title = "Opportunity cost based analysis of corporate eco-efficiency: A methodology and its application to the CO2-efficiency of German companies",

abstract = "In this paper, we propose the return-to-cost-ratio (RCR) as an alternative approach to the analysis of operational eco-efficiency of companies based on the notion of opportunity costs. RCR helps to overcome two fundamental deficits of existing approaches to eco-efficiency. (1) It translates eco-efficiency into managerial terms by applying the well-established notion of opportunity costs to eco-efficiency analysis. (2) RCR allows to identify and quantify the drivers behind changes in corporate eco-efficiency. RCR is applied to the analysis of the CO 2-efficiency of German companies in order to illustrate its usefulness for a detailed analysis of changes in corporate eco-efficiency as well as for the development of effective environmental strategies.",

keywords = "CO2-efficiency, Corporate environmental strategy, Eco-efficiency, Environmental performance assessment, Opportunity cost",

author = "T. Hahn and Frank Figge and Andrea Liesen and Ralf Barkemeyer",

note = "Funding Information: We would like thank the reviewers and the editor for their most helpful comments to improve the paper. Furthermore we acknowledge funding of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research under research grants 07IFS11 and 01RI05146 as well as of the MISTRA foundation. The first author would like to thank Yale University for its hospitality for a guest stay during which he was working on the paper.",

year = "2010",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.05.004",

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volume = "91",

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AU - Hahn, T.

AU - Figge, Frank

AU - Liesen, Andrea

AU - Barkemeyer, Ralf

N1 - Funding Information: We would like thank the reviewers and the editor for their most helpful comments to improve the paper. Furthermore we acknowledge funding of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research under research grants 07IFS11 and 01RI05146 as well as of the MISTRA foundation. The first author would like to thank Yale University for its hospitality for a guest stay during which he was working on the paper.

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Y1 - 2010/10

N2 - In this paper, we propose the return-to-cost-ratio (RCR) as an alternative approach to the analysis of operational eco-efficiency of companies based on the notion of opportunity costs. RCR helps to overcome two fundamental deficits of existing approaches to eco-efficiency. (1) It translates eco-efficiency into managerial terms by applying the well-established notion of opportunity costs to eco-efficiency analysis. (2) RCR allows to identify and quantify the drivers behind changes in corporate eco-efficiency. RCR is applied to the analysis of the CO 2-efficiency of German companies in order to illustrate its usefulness for a detailed analysis of changes in corporate eco-efficiency as well as for the development of effective environmental strategies.

AB - In this paper, we propose the return-to-cost-ratio (RCR) as an alternative approach to the analysis of operational eco-efficiency of companies based on the notion of opportunity costs. RCR helps to overcome two fundamental deficits of existing approaches to eco-efficiency. (1) It translates eco-efficiency into managerial terms by applying the well-established notion of opportunity costs to eco-efficiency analysis. (2) RCR allows to identify and quantify the drivers behind changes in corporate eco-efficiency. RCR is applied to the analysis of the CO 2-efficiency of German companies in order to illustrate its usefulness for a detailed analysis of changes in corporate eco-efficiency as well as for the development of effective environmental strategies.

KW - CO2-efficiency

KW - Corporate environmental strategy

KW - Eco-efficiency

KW - Environmental performance assessment

KW - Opportunity cost

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DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.05.004

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SN - 0301-4797

VL - 91

SP - 1997

EP - 2007

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

IS - 10

ER -

Opportunity cost based analysis of corporate eco-efficiency: A methodology and its application to the CO2-efficiency of German companies

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Keywords

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